The amazing journey of life immortalized by Michael Northrup

Photographer Michael Northrup was born in Baltimore in 1948, he made color photographs delicately humorous but decidedly exultant of his daily life since the early ’70s.

About ’70’s-90’s’:

I pull my images directly from my life experiences and rely on serendipity most of the time. I’m far more perceptual than conceptual. These images represent a diary of life and the constant is my eye watching and recording this journey.

I love irony… not exclusively, but I have a particular appreciation for it. And it underlies a lot of my work. I must have been influenced by my mother who would laugh at news stories like, “Santa Loses Fingers While Stepping Off Helicopter To Wave At Kids”. During the 50’s my older brother told me all the science fiction and horror movies we were seeing were documentaries. And my dad, being a doctor, surgeon, and coroner, would bring humor to the dinner table on things like bowel obstructions and suicides. My whole family was great at extracting humor out of tragedy and that has given me a way of seeing. For me creating images is all about my daily life, those meaningful pictures I’m able to extract from it, and the personal vision I bring to those visual narratives.

C41 is a Milan-based magazine of contemporary visual art from all over the world. We’re interested in lifestyle,
fashion, design, outdoors, and creative communities. Through our viewers’ lenses, we tell the stories.